A&M blew a 34-point lead in its season opener at UCLA before falling 45-44.

Aggies figured they had two painless games to get things right going into Southeastern Conference play.

Last weekend Nicholls State proved a pain in A&M's posterior, however, why the Aggies are hoping the second of the two contests is a bit more comfortable - and comforting. A&M plays host to Louisiana-Lafayette at 11 a.m. Saturday, one more chance to work on a boatload of ills early in the season.

"That obviously wasn't the situation we wanted to be in at the end of that game," A&M linebacker Cullen Gillaspia said of the Aggies being tied 14-14 with Nicholls in the fourth quarter before prevailing 24-14. "But it showed us who we are, when we were able to shut the door.

"That's what we were missing against UCLA, because when it came down to the fourth quarter and it got close, we couldn't finish."

Ragin' Cajuns like to get up and down the field, but so do their opponents. Louisiana defeated Southeastern Louisiana 51-48 in the season opener, only to fall 66-42 at Tulsa last week.

"We tried to stay with them, foot-to-foot in a track meet and for about three quarters we did," Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth said after the 24-point loss to Tulsa. "But we've got to go back to the drawing board defensively and get our best 11 on the field."